Ripples and waves
by Crimsonsheen
Summary: Terrible at making title that fit the story. Naruto's relationship with the Kyuubi no Yoko starts on a better note, making Naruto stronger because of it. NaruHina Only, Powerful!Naruto  R&R


Hi Everyone, I'm back with a new story, hopefully I can get this one off the ground. I apologize to anyone who had liked the start of my previous story "Trial and Error," but I felt that I had started too much too soon in regards to Naruto and Hinata. This will be a NaruHina story, without a doubt and this prologue chapter sets the backstory for the main tale. Once again, sorry for the people who wanted to see me go somewhere with that last story. Also, I am only going to be doing this once, not in every A/N before each chapter, so listen close  
><em><strong>"...damned precious Hokage"- <strong>_Demon speaking  
>'So this is the Kyubi no Yoko'<span> - thoughts being thought<span>  
>Crimsonsheen<p>

Trying to control his breathing so that the mob wouldn't be able to find him again, Naruto thought to himself, 'why me, why do people want to hurt me so much.' Wiping the tears from his eyes, he begins to look at his surroundings. 'Well, at least people won't want to look in here, nobody would go in a dumpster unless it was to throw away garbage.' As the blond looked around at what was in the dumpster, something shiny caught his eye. 'Meditation, wonder what that is…'

Contrary to what everyone around him believes, Naruto is actually quite proficient at reading. Three years ago, back when he was five years old and he had just discovered the magical place called Ichiraku's that served the food of the gods known as ramen. The daughter of the owner had noticed that Naruto never looked like he was reading anything after months of visiting the ramen stand, only calling names that he could remember. So one day…

*Flasback*

"Naruto, what do you think of the name we came up with for the new kind of ramen we made, you can read the name right in the top left corner of the menu board," Ayame called out. Of course, it wasn't any new name or anything, it was really Naruto's favorite flavor, Miso. It was a test for a reason.

"Ummm, Ayame-chan, I can't read it from here, could you just say it for me" Naruto asked nervously.

"Here Naruto, let me write it down for you" Ayame replied. Already prepared for Naruto's answer, Ayame passed him a paper with Miso written on it.

"I can't read this Ayame-chan. I-I don't know." Naruto muttered quietly

"I knew it! Naruto, you being unable to read ends starting now. I'm going to help you to learn how to read" Ayame declared.

Naruto stared at Ayame in shock, slowly piecing her words together until her statement made sense to him. 'Ayame-chan is going to help me learn how to read…'  
>"Yatta! Ayame-chan, you're the bestest, greatest, awesomeist person ever! Besides Teuchi-jiji, but he invented ramen, so he's hard to compete with so don't feel bad! Naruto cried out as he started jumping around dancing.<p>

From that day, Ayame had helped Naruto learn how to read. Naruto proved to be a fast learner, becoming just as proficient as Ayame within only a couple of months. Since that time, Naruto read anything he could, from newspapers to books thrown out in the trash, quickly expanding his knowledge base.

*Flashback end*

Looking at the first page, Naruto sees the text of the book and begins to read

"_The purpose of meditation is to keep our minds calm and peaceful, __  
><em>_even in the most hectic times of our lives. So long as our minds can remain peaceful, __  
><em>_we can be free from our worries and find true happiness"_

'True happiness…' Naruto was fixated on that phrase until he fell asleep still staring at that page.

"Psst, hey kid, wake up" Naruto stirred and looked at the man that had woken him up. "Listen, I don't have anything against you in particular, but you need to get out of here. Not only will you get sick sleeping in garbage, but someone might come after me for housing the demon kid. Sorry kiddo, but you've gotta go."

"I… Ok. I will be out of your way then." Naruto spoke quietly as he climbed out of the dumpster that had become his temporary shelter.

Poking his head out of the alley, Naruto checked to see if the mob was still around. 'Thank goodness, at least I don't have to put up with that particular mob until next years festival' he thought to himself as he carefully made his way back to his apartment, his newfound book held closely to his body. As soon as Naruto made it inside his apartment, he ran to his room and slid the book under a loose floorboard under his bed, hiding from any would-be thieves and then stripped down to take a shower to rinse the smell of the dupmster from him.

After his shower was complete, he pulled the book out from its new hiding spot and began reading it in earnest. He started with techniques for meditation, the proper breathing and the posture. He then moved on to read about the more advanced benefits of meditation, control of your mind and soul. Not wanting to waste another moment, he began to meditate. For days, when he meditated, he found himself calmer, less worried about how the people of the village hated him, until one day he became at peace with it. The next day however, would throw Naruto for a loop.

"This is fantastic! I am so happy I found that book!" Naruto said to himself as he readied himself for another session of meditation. Breathing slowly and methodically, he began to try another level, to actually go into his "mindscape" as the book had described it. Slowly but surely the darkness he saw from closing his eyes gave way to an open field with a giant oak tree on top of a hill. Naruto looked around and found that he liked what his mind had already subconsciously created.

For days after that, Naruto found himself drawn to his mindscape, he wasn't sure why, but he took advantage of it by learning how to manipulate his mindscape, altering it completely at his will. One day as he was tending to his newly created Zen Garden, he noticed he had a visitor. 'A fox cub? I didn't put that there…'

Ignorant of Naruto's suspicions, the fox cub yipped playfully and started to lead Naruto away. The sk became darker as the cub led Naruto further away. After what seemed like hours, Naruto came upon a dilapidated looking building. Curious, Naruto opened the closest door to him and peered inside as he stood in the doorway, the fox cub came up behind him and nudged his leg, motioning to go inside. Looking down at the fox cub, then back inside the building, Naruto stepped into the building, closing the door behind him. Wandering the halls, Naruto began to ponder what piece of his mind this building represented. Coming to a door, he decided to look open it and look at what was on the other side.

As he looked through the now open doorway, he saw something he was sure he had forgotten; the night of his fourth birthday. He was now reliving through his own eyes as he was being chased down the street while he tried fervently to get to the Hokage's tower, knowing that the Hokage would help him. He watched as he saw himself trip and fall on the ground. He watched as he saw himself look behind him and the mob had caught up. He watched as he saw the first blow from the mob of villagers connect with his small body. Finally, he couldn't take anymore, he shut the door and locked it and slid against the wall to the ground. It was then that Naruto realized what this building was, it was the manifestation of the darkest thoughts and parts of him and his worst memories.

Getting up and brushing himself off, Naruto decided to see just how big this construct really was. As he continued to wander, he found himself looking at a set of stairs leading to what looked like the basement. With seemingly no control over his own legs, he began to walk down the stairs, drawn to some sort of presence near the bottom.

Reaching the bottom, Naruto looked and was confused 'Just another long hallway, wait, I see an open doorway.' Naruto ran towards the doorway, his curiosity overriding any sense of caution at what the darkest part of his mind and soul may be holding in its basement. As he stepped into the open doorway, he saw massive jail cell gates that seemed to be dwarf even the gates of the main entrance of Konohagakure in comparison, with the kanji for seal written on a tag, sealing the gates shut. "What is this place?" Naruto asked to nobody in particular

"**_This is the place where I have been imprisoned by your damned precious Hokage_****" **A voice rumbled from beyond the gate.

"What do you mean" Naruto asked as the body that the voice came from stepped into view. What Naruto saw, scared him more than anything else had in his short life. As he looked upon the body behind the gates, he saw an impossibly large fox staring at him with its nine tail swaying gracefully behind it. "Are you… The Kyuubi No Yoko?"

The fox didn't respond verbally, it only grinned maliciously and nodded its head. "So that means…" Naruto put together all of the facts that he knew: He was born on October 10th Nobody would associate with him, they called him names like 'demon', and they always tried to beat and kill him on his birthday… October 10th. "I'm a jinchuriki, aren't I…?"

"**_Yes kit, you are. Your Yondaime, the one you idolized so much is the one who sealed me into you when you were just a newborn baby._** **_I am the same Kyuubi no Yoko that attacked the village over eight years ago. However, at the same time, I am not. I was under a powerful genjutsu. I had thought that the only person capable of producing that genjutsu had died a long time ago, I was mistaken. Somehow he had managed to create a summoning contract for me from chakra he had stolen from me when he last controlled me. He summoned me and controlled me to attack Konohagakure no Sato. Make no mistake, though I hold no love for humans, I would not deliberately attack a village of them. I am not the evil being that your village has made me out to be, and by association, has made you out to be._**

Naruto listened intently with a pensive look on his face as the Demon Lord spoke. After the Kyuubi had finished speaking, Naruto began to think about everything he had heard. 'So this is the Kyuubi no Yoko… I actually feel a bit of pity for it. It's funny, even though it is the cause for my miserable life, the Kyuubi is required to spend the rest of its days trapped inside my mind, bound to my soul. I should see if I can ease this a little bit.'

"Kyuubi, is this all that there is to your prison? A cage blocking you in a small room? Would you like to not have to be confined, to be free to roam around my mindscape?" Naruto asked

"**_Why would you torture me with the notion of no longer being trapped in this infernal cage? Have I not suffered enou…" _**The fox stopped its speaking as it saw the cage it was trapped in dissolve and the seal tag change into a collar that affixed itself around the Kyuubi's neck.

"I am the master of my mindscape, there is no portion of it that I cannot alter as long as I understand its purpose, the seal containing you included. The building we are in will take a much longer time to dissolve, to do that I have to come to terms with all of the 'experiences' have dealt with in my short life. Please be patient. I know that it was neither of our own choices that you are here, and I would prefer that it is not something either one of us would need to have a grudge against the other about."

The Kyuubi stared hard at the child standing in front of it and said with some hesitation **_"That would be… agreeable. Since you have done this for me, I will tell you what humans have never known; my name. My name is Yoru. Do not use it in normal speech, but you may use my name when speaking to me, kit."_**

At that moment, Naruto decided the atmosphere was getting a little too serious and decided to see if the Demon lord could take a joke. "I suppose I could call you Yoru, but how about I just call you fuzzball, fuzzball?" Naruto asked with a smirk. Yoru didn't respond. Naruto took that as a positive answer.

Over the next month, Naruto spent most of his time in the real world meditating, taking down his mental barriers and dismantling the construct in his mind that housed is darkest parts, his worst fears, his most horrible memories and of course, the Kyuubi no Yoko. The two souls rarely spoke, both leaving the other to their own thoughts and devices. After Naruto had completed the mentally straining task of confronting everything in that building, Yoru decided to approach Naruto.

"**_Naruto, there are two things I wish to discuss with you. First, I am not always in the form of a full demon, I can also take the form of a hanyou, or a half-demon."_** Yoru spoke as he shrunk his body to that of a fully grown man. The Demons new appearance startled Naruto. He looked to be roughly six feet tall with long, straight, blood red hair with a single white streak running diagonally across the back of his hair. The most striking portion of the man was that his eyes had not changed, they were still feral, red eyes with a vertical slit down the middle as well as the nine tails the man still had. Naruto found the eyes a little unnerving.

"What is the second thing you wish to discuss with me?" Naruto asked, his curiosity peaked.

"**_Because I was not always in that form, I learned several styles of Taijutsu, Kenjutsu, and also learned how to use a double sided naginata _**(Naginatajutsu)**_. I wish for you to learn how to use these styles, as they are no longer useful to me. I will give you the information for the styles, however that knowledge alone will do little for you. You will be responsible for training your body to memorize the styles and all of the katas associated with them. You need to be able to react without thought to be able to properly use these styles. While you are attending your Ninja Academy, you will learn these. You will not use them however. You will be the idiot everyone assumes you are. Suspicion will be raised and the Hokage, as much as he would like to protect you, can't do that effectively until you become a shinobi. Am I understood?"_**

"Hai" Naruto responded, knowing that this would be the best way for him to learn effective fighting.

It took 6 years of solitary training while still going to the academy and keeping up appearances, but Naruto had mastered every style that Yoru had thrown at him. Yoru had taught Naruto a method to keep people off his back, _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_. While originally used so that Naruto could train without interruption, Yoru had a second purpose for Naruto to figure out. _Kage Bunshin_s memories transmit back to the original user when dispelled. Once Naruto figured out the added benefits, he used and abused the clones to no end. With Naruto now 14 years old and the Academy coming to a close, it is now coming time for Naruto to start walking in the view of everyone, rather than being forced to live his life in the shadows.

A/N - I plan on having Naruto being rather O/P in this fic, but he will still be getting shown a lesson in humility here and there. As with any other fics you would read, please give me a review. I don't have a solidified storyline and don't really plan on having one unless I REALLY want something specific to happen, so I will take suggestions with an open mind. Naruto's main weapon and pairing are decided however. Naruhina only (No Harem) with his weapon of choice being a Naginata.


End file.
